Adjustable headrest



March 1957 s. B. HENDRICKSON 2,

' ADJUSTABLE HEADRESYT Filed May 20 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l Fig. l

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United States Patent ADJUSTABLE HEADREST Severin B. Hendrickson, Templeton, Mass., assignor to Heywood-Wakefield Company, Gardner, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application May 20, 1953, Serial No. 356,235

2 Claims. (Cl. 155--177) This invention relates to chairs, and more particularly to chairs in which a back rest is provided with a headrest and the headrest is pivotally mounted on the back rest to assume various positions of inclination.

It is often desirable to provide the back rest of various types of chairs, and especially chairs of the reclining type employed in vehicles, with adjustable pivotally mounted headrests. In the past this has been accomplished by ratchet and tooth arrangements by means of which the headrest could be locked in one of several positions. Such arrangements have had numerous disadvantages. They tend to become clogged with dirt or the like after periods of extended use such that the working elements stick or become altogether inoperative; they are expensive in construction and installation, having numerous working parts; they are cumbersome in operation even when not clogged with dirt because a release mechanism located behind the chair occupant must be operated in order to change the angle of the head-rest; they do not lend themselves to installation within the upholstery of a chair back; and finally they are only adjustable to a relatively few positions with the result that the chair occupant may never be able to position the headrest at the most comfortable angle. These factors have generally inhibited a more widespread use of adjustable headrests.

It is an object of my invention to provide a headrest which may be pivoted to an infinite number of positions without the necessity of operating a release mechanism. An additional object of my invention is to provide a pivotally mounted headrest with a simple, inexpensive and reliable means for controlling its position which will be suitable for installation within the upholstery of the chair back and headrest. Still another object of my invention is to provide an adjustable headrest with control means which will not be adversely affected by dirt or the like after periods of extended use.

'In the accomplishment of these and other objects of my invention in a preferred embodiment thereof, I provide a headrest pivot-ally mounted on the back rest of a reclining chair. The position of the headrest is con-trolled by a pair of friction elements. These elements include a linkage arrangement which causes a friction shoe to move back and forth relative to a friction surface when the headrest is pivoted relative to the back rest. It is a feature of my invention that the resistance of the friction element is controlled by a spring which is adapted to urge the friction shoe against the friction surface under constant pressure regardless of the position of the shoe relative to the said friction surface.

It is also a feature of my invention that the resistance of the friction elements is controlled in such a way that it is strong enough adequately to support the head of the occupant of the chair, but yet is not so great as to prevent convenient manual shifting ofthe angle of the headrest.

An additional feature of my invention is that the friction control arrangement for the angle of the headrest permits the occupant to move the headrest to any comfortable position.

'Further objects and features of my invention will best be understood and appreciated from the follovving detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a view in side elevation of a chair equipped with the headrest of my invention, showing in phantom lines various positions for the headrest;

Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation of the chair of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the friction element employed in controlling the position of the headrest;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the friction element of Fig. 3 with the cover removed so as to expose the inner working parts thereof;

Fig. 5 is a View in side elevation of the friction element; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view in end elevation along the lines 66 of Fig. 5.

The preferred embodiment of my invention herein shown includes in its general organization a chair It) havin a seat 12 and a back rest 14. A headrest 16 is pivotally connected to the back rest 14, and the position of the headrest 16 is controlled by a friction element indicated generally at 18.

In the embodiment herein shown, the back rest 14 and the headrest 16 are fully upholstered members. The back rest 14 having internal tubular frame members 2i? and the headrest 16 having a tubular frame member 22. The tubular frame members 2ft and 22 are pivotally interconnected at each side of the back rest 14- by means of pivot pins 24.

The position of the headrest 16 is controlled by a pair of friction elements 18 mounted on the tubular frame element 22, one on each side of the headrest. Figs. 36, however, show only one such friction element, and since both friction elements are identical, it will be understood that only one need be described in detail herein.

The friction element 1 8 comprises a channel member 26 mounted on the frame member 22 and having side walls 28. A double-sided friction shoe indicated at Stl is positioned to slide between the side walls 23 of-the channel member 26. The shoe 30 consists generally in a pair of vertically mounted plates 32 disposed within the channel 26 and parallel to the walls '28. A uniform friction contact is provided by leather or brake band strips 34 mounted on the outer side of the plates 32 in position to rub against the inner surfaces of the walls 28. Between the innersides of plates 32 l. interpose a spring 36 which is adapted to urge the plates 34 outwardly and thereby cause the leather. or brake band strips 34 to press against the walls 28.

The plates 32 are connected to a thrust link 3% at their lower ends by means of a pin 49 which passes through the lower end of each plate 32 and the upper end of the thrust link 38. The walls 28 of the channel member 26 extend downwardly flanking the area. adjacent to the pivotal connection between the thrust link 38 and the plates 32. Washers 42 are mounted on the pin 46 to each side of the plates 32, and by remaining in free sliding relationship to the walls 28 serve the purpose of anchoring and insuring correct positioning of the pin 49. The thrust link 38 extends downwardly from the lower end of the channel 26 and between two upstanding arms 44 which serve as guide members for the thrust link 38. Thrust link 38 is further provided with a longitudinally extending slot 46, and a pin 48 supported between the guide walls 44 travels in the slot 46 further serving the purpose of guiding the thrust link 35. The lower end of the thrust link 38 is connected by means of a pin 50 to a double-walled post 52 which is secured to the frame member 20 of the back rest.

Thus it will be seen that with the linkage arrangement described above, pivoting the headrest relative to the back rest causes the thrust link 38 to actuate the friction shoe 30 within the channel 26. The spring 36 provides the necessary control of the resistance of the friction eleinent, and it will be understood that this control is regulated so that the headrest will be sufficiently rigid to sup port the head of an occupant under normal conditions of use, but will not be so great as to substantially prevent convenient manual adjustment of the position of the headrest.

With regard to keeping the working elements substantially free from dirt and other undesirable obstructions, I provide short out-turned flanges 54 running along the upper margins of the walls of the channel 26, and I provide a cover 56 which is roughly of complementary cross section to the channel 26. Thus the cover 56 may be put in place by sliding it downwardly onto the channel 26 until the cover 56 becomes fully lodged in place on the channel 26 with an end plate 58 of the cover 56 abutting the end of the channel 26.

Numerous minor variations of this preferred embodiment of my invention will now be apparent to those skilled in the art. For instance, the friction elements 18 could be mounted on the back rest frame members 20 instead of the headrest frame members 22 with a reversal of the position of the associated working parts. Furthermore, other types of friction elements in which the frictional resistance may be held constant and adequately regulated may be employed, provided the housing for them is suflicient to prevent the entrance of dirt or other obstructing matter. Therefore, it is not my intention to confine the invention to the precise form of the preferred embodiment herein shown, but rather to limit it in terms of the appended claims.

Having thus described and disclosed a preferred embodiment of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A chair having in combination, a back rest, a headrest pivotally connected to said back rest, and means for controlling the position of said headrest including a channel member having walls the inner sides of which pro vide friction surfaces, a double shoe friction element adapted to slide both longitudinally and vertically in said channel, a spring located within said double shoe friction element between said shoes and adapted to urge said shoes outwardly against said friction surfaces, said channel member being mounted on said headrest, a thrust link, said friction element being pivotally connected to said thrust link, said thrust link being pivotally connected to said back rest, means connected to said headrest'for guiding said thrust link in a fixed path of longitudinal and angular travel relative to the headrest whereby to hold said friction element in, said channel and whereby pivoting said headrest relative to said back rest actuates said thrust link and causes said friction shoes to slide relative to said friction surfaces, and said spring and friction shoes being constructed and arranged in relation to said headrest to provide a frictional resistance to the motion of said headrest greater than the normal weight of an occupant of said chair but to provide a resistance less in value than still greater forces applied to said headrest whereby said headrest may be positioned manually and will thereafter remain in any given position under conditions of normal occupancy.

2. A chair having in combination, a back rest, a headrest pivotally connected to said back rest, and means for controlling the position of said headrest including a channel member having walls the inner sides of which provide friction surfaces, a friction element adapted to slide both longitudinally and vertically in said channel, resilient means in said channel for urging said friction ele ment outwardly against said friction surface, said channel member being mounted on said headrest, a thrust link, said friction element being pivotally connected to said thrust link, said thrust link being pivotally connected to said back rest, means connected to said headrest for guiding said thrust link in a fixed path of longitudinal and angular travel relative to the headrest whereby to hold said friction element in said channel and whereby pivoting said headrest relative to said back rest actuates said thrust link and causes said friction element to slide relative to said friction surface, and said resilient means and friction element being constructed and arranged in relation to said headrest to provide a frictional resistance to the motion of said headrest greater than the normal Weight of an occupant of said chair but to provide a resistance less in value than still greater forces applied to said headrest whereby said headrest may be positioned manually and will thereafter remain in any given position under conditions of normal occupancy.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

